Okinawa's Info on COVID-19 Reponse

Okinawa's info on COVID-19 reponse. Be safe out there!

https://www.visitokinawa.jp/news/about-coronavirus-disease

2017 Road Tax Season

I am actually too lazy to even write an intro for this, so just see my prior post on this matter. =) It is linked below. 

However, here is the latest flier from OTS for your information, and I am going with them this year as well.

***2016 POST HERE***

OTS 2017 Road Tax

2017 Road Tax Collection Schedule

Having a baby on Okinawa

***UPDATED 20-MAY-17. SEE BOTTOM OF POST***

So….we have been blessed with a brand new, fresh from the factory, baby girl! Luckily, the baby and mom are doing well, and that is all I could ask. However, this has happened about 5 months from leaving Oki to….well we have no idea as of this writing, but it should be Stateside somewhere. This is important to know as this will frame this whole post.

Well me being me, I am feeling a little stressed because 5 months doesn’t seem like a lot of time to get this new kid a Consular Report of Birth (CRBA), a tourist passport, AND a social security number, without coming down to the wire (which I hate!).  Obviously, I am being a little dramatic, as there are others popping out babies a month out from PCSing and they are getting all that done doing with little issues. The main thing is to know what needs to be done and where to get it done. Luckily, there are processes to get a lot of this done in a logical manner and I will detail those processes next. However, all this is framed to my personal scenario, which is the baby is healthy and was born at the Foster hospital, going Stateside after Okinawa, and I am active duty USAF. If your situation is even a little bit different from mine, then your process will have more or less steps to it to PCS out of Oki. Let’s begin!

1.  Most important step is go to Foster’s Birth Registration Brief! I have the packet they will give further down this post with their DSN number on the front so you can make that appointment. But the whole point of this brief is to go to it BEFORE the baby is even born, so you will have time to collect what you need for the Consular Report of Birth and Passport. In my specific situation, I had the following documents already, and used them with no issue.

a.  Passports: My American Tourist Passport (Can be any type though) and my wife’s Korean passport were good to go and current.

b.  Our marriage certificate: They will harp on this A LOT. Luckily, I have a certified copy anyways and was good to go. If you don’t have a certified copy, then you will have to get one from whatever State you got married in. Which I suspect will take TIME and that is why you should order it while you are still preggo so you will have it by the time the baby is born.

c.  My wife’s dependent ID was used as a secondary ID during this process as well. I imagine every military spouse will have this anyways, but make sure it is good to go beforehand. My wife’s actually expired a month and half later after the baby was born, so I am glad I noticed that anyways.

d.  A printed DS-2029 is required too. You can find it online, just make sure it is the right version. They have instructions on how to fill it out in the birth registration packet, so see below.

e.  A printed DS-11 will be needed to get the baby a tourist passport as well. Just remember you have to do the online version, so when you print it up the form will have a 2D bar code on the side. Oh, and get passport photos done too. I got mine made at the Photo store in the Kadena BX and it was about $10 and on a walk-in basis.  Finally, they have instructions on how to fill out the DS-11 in the birth registration packet too, so see below.

f.  Make sure to bring everything they give you when they discharge you from the hospital, the birth registration lady will need info out of it.

g.  The last thing is money orders. I got mine at the Post Office on Kadena and I recommend you get them BEFORE the baby pops out so it will be one less thing to worry about. Details are in the packet below.

And that is it for the CRBA and Passport process, well for me that is. I do want to note I did attend the birth registration class before the baby was born. Also, the day the baby was born, I went down stairs of the Foster hospital to Room 111 (near the main entrance, through the doors on the right) and had my pre-screening appointment made with the birth registration office (about 2 weeks later). 

Furthermore, the day I went to the pre-screening appointment, and had everything I needed, they had me meet the Consular Officer later that day as well. I don’t think that is the norm, but it worked out, and just know your wife and baby have to be there to take an oath.

Again, your mileage may vary, but I think my personal situation is as simple as it can get. Just understand all this is for getting the CRBA and Passport, nothing else, but there are still a lot of other steps for the military side of things as well. Oh, and this office will help you get your baby a Social Security number once your CRBA and passport come in. Since I haven’t got this stuff yet as of this writing, I will update this post with that process as well.

A final note on all this is that we intend to get a Korean Passport as well for our baby, but I haven’t go down that road just yet. The main issue I think is the Korean Embassy accepting the CRBA for a Korean passport, which is an unknown right now. The only thing I did so far was get the passport photos in the Korean passport size (same as Japanese passport size) for future use. I will update this post once I get this all figured out.

Next, the other military stuff!

2.  So once your wife pushes out a healthy baby and eventually gets discharged from the Foster hospital, you will be giving a discharge packet. There are many things in this packet, a lot of it medical related of course, but I am not going to focus on all that stuff and I am just focus on the paperwork needed to PCS Oki successfully.

a.  You will get a Certificate of Birth (signed by the doc) and you will use this to get your baby in DEERS. This should be your first step once you get settled at home. You will get this done at the MPF or whatever it is called now. You will need your military ID and the certificate and it doesn’t take long.

b.  Next you will need to see the Tricare office at the Kadena Clinic to enroll the baby in Tricare and start the Command Sponsorship process. The directions to do this are below as well and covers a lot of different scenario, however I fell into Step 1 (the easy one). So, basically you will need a MFR made, which you can find on the FSS SharePoint under the DEROS Management section. Make/print that MFR before going to Tricare, because they will route it for signatures. Luckily, since I came here Command Sponsored, I could just sign it, and get it routed. There are personnel that manage this process exclusively, so you will have to go on the days they are there. Which at the time of this writing was M-W-F @ 0800-1100 hours. Once you get it back (a few days later), you will have to get the final signature from DEROS Management office at the MPF.

c.  The DEROS Management office is going to want a copy of your orders bringing you to Kadena, that letter from Tricare, and the DEERS Form (DD Form 1172) before they will sign that Command Sponsorship letter. Once they sign it though, you are NOT done! They will keep the original and you will get 3 copies of everything, but you are done with DEROS Management at least.

d.  Since you are in the MPF building already at this point, you will take a copy of that Command Sponsorship letter AND the medical form with the baby feet on it to the Finance Section, so you can start getting extra COLA. You would think all these systems are connected, but they are not, so you will fill out a form there as well. Now you will be getting more money, backdated to when the baby was born. Cha Ching!

e. The final stop is back to the Tricare Office so you can now officially enroll your baby into Tricare. They will take a copy of that completed Command Sponsorship letter and have you fill out the Tricare enrollment form on the spot. Once that is done you are finished with the military side of things! Yay!

Some final notes on all this. The DEROS Management office was pretty adamant that I didn’t lose this signed Command Sponsorship letter, because I will need again when I out-process or something. Well, I have a copy still and I scanned it to my personal files, just in case as well. 

Oh and apparently you can do all the CRBA and Passport and/or SSN yourself at the Naha Consulate if you like, as the birth registration office does this as a courtesy basically for those babies born on Foster. But I am lazy and having them track all this stuff is right up my alley.

I will update this post once I get the Social Security number and the Korean Passport things figured. All the informational packets I have (with my chicken scratch included) are below for reference. 

Enjoy!

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_0

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_1

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_2

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_3

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_4

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_5

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_6

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_7

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_8

Birth_Registration_Packet_Page_9

Command_Sponsorship_Instructions

Command_Sponsorship_Instructions_Memo

***UPDATED 25-APR-17***

Ok. Guess what I got yesterday!? A nice shiny passport and CRBA! In all it took about 1.5 months to get to me, but your mileage can vary. The CRBA is really fancy looking too. Fancy enough to frame and hang up on the wall in my opinion. But anyways, the main thing to know is that you now can apply for your kid’s social security number with everything you just got. The birth registration office will give you a hand-out (I have it below) that will explain what you have to do. They don’t do anything with all that at this point, it is all on you now. However, it is straight forward and you just have to mail everything to the embassy up at Tokyo for processing. The passports/ID copies are just plain old black and white copier type, nothing fancy. Oh, and fill out the SS-5 and don’t forget to sign it too. Then just bring those all copies to the notary and they will take care of the rest. After that I mailed all those papers to the DPO address which is basically the same as APO. But I used priority mail, just so I can get a tracking number in case things go awry.  Easy pesy. I will update again once we get the SSN card and wrap this post up. Later!

Social Security Number Application For Newborns

FINAL UPDATE ***20-MAY-17***

So I finally got my kid's SSN in the mail last week!  Since I threw away my receipt with the priority mail tracking number on it, I am going to guess and say it took about 3 weeks-ish from start to finish. As, in the day I mailed the package to the Tokyo embassy, and to actually getting the SSN in my mailbox onbase. The date on the SSN card is May 8th, so I think they made the number within a week of getting the application, so that is pretty fast in my opinion. But this finally closes the loop on this whole process with the birth certificate, passport, and SSN. Overall this whole thing took about 2.5 months from when the day the baby was born to getting the SSN in mail. I attribute this to having all the documentation I needed up front and having a simple situation overall. The End!

Getting JCI done on Okinawa! Part 2016...

So it is that time again…the lame JCI, but for my second car. As I wrote this up in detail in a prior post, which is linked here ( Getting JCI done on Okinawa! , I won’t get too much into it. However, I wanted to share the latest info for 2016 and what my costs were this go around…ok then, lets’ go!

So I have a 500-plate 2007 Nissan Cube that is in good shape and I have had zero issues with it for the 2 years I have had it. Knowing this, I decided to wing this JCI again, and just take it down to the JSVRO.  What is the worst that can happen, right?? So my first step was to head over to the USO on Kadena and get a new JCI policy. As they typed that all up for me, they gave me a nice “how-to” while I waited with all the fees listed too, super handy! Here it is below…

JSVRO - JCI - Page 1

JSVRO - JCI - Page 2

Well luckily after I paid the lady there she told me that the JSVRO doesn’t do JCI inspections on Fridays…and it was Friday…dammit! I got up early for nothing it seems. I was trying to knock this out before we rolled into a 4-day weekend, oh well. Fast forward to next Tuesday (Monday was the holiday day off), and I headed over to the JSVRO. I drove there thinking smugly to myself that getting there at 9am I would beat the rush, and be in-and-out in less than an hour like the last time….yea not so much. My advice to you is to NOT do your JCI when everyone ELSE on the island has the time off too! Let’s just say I got there at 9am to a long line that was formed even before I got there and I didn’t get back to my front door until 2pm! Yup a complete waste of a day if you ask me, but it is freaking done now at least. Ok I am done bitching, and on with the story. In reality, the time spent on actually doing the admin stuff and the inspection was pretty quick. It was just all the waiting around that ate up my time. Funny YouTube videos on my iPhone definitely filled most of my time then.

So as far as the inspection went, I did well, except my rear license plate holder was missing a lower mounting bracket screw (no idea) and (surprise surprise!) my headlights needed an alignment. I am beginning to suspect the headlight alignment deal is a sham…I mean the inspection machine definitely showed I failed something since some of the blocks were red that I saw. It was just suspicious when almost everyone before me in the line was at the auto hobby shop for the same thing too…hmmmmm but whatever, at least it was just that and not some major repairs needed. So after I got that fixed, I went back and got the green lights and was good to go. Moral of the story, go early and on a day that NOBODY has off, since all of them are going to ALL have the same idea as you. Don’t waste a day like I did…

Here is a breakdown of my costs this go around….

1. JCI Policy:  13,230 Yen

2. Weight Tax:  15,800 yen

3.  Inspection Fee: $20

4.  Auto Repairs:  $24.60

Total: ~ $323.614

I didn’t include my insurance cost as I renewed it back in August and I am too lazy to see how much it was at the time. But I would count that to the total cost of ownership when you do your JCI as I assume most people’s JCI and Insurance are due at the same time. 

2016 Road Tax Collection Schedule

***2017 UPDATE HERE***

So it is that time of the year again! I was gone most of 2015, so I didn't get a chance to post that schedule, but I am here this time around. I am not going to get on my soap box like last time either, but you can read about it in the 2014 post. 

Anyways, I have used the OTS insurance on Kadena the whole time we have been here with zero issues. They charge a 500 yen fee for their efforts, and since I am lazy, 500 yen is just fine by me. Just understand, you will have to go to Foster to pick up the road tax sticker (super easy) after you get your paperwork from them. I posted OTS's instructions if you want to go through them, and I have also posted the road tax schedule where the Japanese officials visit a base near you to collect your fee/paperwork. Since I hate crowds and waiting, I will go the OTS route. 

OTS Insurance Road Tax Service

Road Tax Collection Schedule

VPN Service and Smart DNS Service Providers for Streaming US Only Content

So...as most people know that live out here in Okinawa, and specifically in the Kadena housing areas, is that your Netflix/Hulu/DramaFever/etc. will not work out here.  There are a couple of ways around this, and they are usually low cost as well. I will detail what we have ended up going with so far during our time here on Okinawa. Oh and I will be using some technical terms, with no explanation, just so I can keep this post small. However, if anyone needs more info on this technical stuff, I will have links to help you educate yourself. Just know at a high level view, these services allow you to do something you want. You don't need to know HOW they work for them to work for you. =) Anyways...
 
Well first, why care about all this? Well if you don't want to use Netflix/Hulu/etc. out here, then yea, who cares! BUT if you do, you have two primary methods to bypass the region restrictions most US based streaming services use. And that is use a VPN or a SmartDNS service, both are usually pretty cheap. But before I get into those services, I wanted to clarify something on using these services out here though...
 
1.  I would try using Netflix/Hulu/HBO/etc. first, before getting these services. Why get them, when you don't need them, right? However, I live on Kadena and use Mediatti, and while it looks like a have a US based IP address, it still gets blocked by those streaming services. This may be the case for many living on-base, but that is why I say try first, before jumping the gun.
 
2.  For those that live off-base, will I heard they get it a little better, in internet speed and services. Basically, most off-base internet providers give you a router that has a special port on it that gives anything plugged into it a real US based IP address. So super cool and convenient, but yea, I live on-base...
 
Ok,  so VPN and SmartDNS services, what are they?
 
1.  VPN is basically a encrypted connection between your computer/devices to another computer/server located else where. What that means for us and our streaming services is that you can use this services to make it SEEM like you are located somewhere else; like the US! It also has the added bonus of hiding all your internet traffic from your pesky ISP and shady government orgs =). It may not be the best method for non-technical type of people, but if you know how to read, you can set it up in 30 mins or so. The service I am using is linked below, but there are a lot of them out there you can use. However, I went with these guys because they are cheap, accept Bitcoin for payment, it works on iphones/ipads directly, and they allow you to use torrents on their service; oh and of course you can stream through them too. Your best bet is to find a VPN service within your budget and provides what you are looking for. 
 

VPN.AC (Secure VPN Access)

 

Get smart on VPN's!

Wiki VPNs

 

2.  SmartDNS service is a rather complex thing to explain, so basically just understand it will "spoof" your IP and make it seem like your computer/devices are in the US. This service does not encrypt your internet traffic, however it will be "faster" than using a VPN service, so that feature alone may be best for people that just want to stream movies/shows. I service I am using is linked below and I am using it directly on my Samsung smart TV, so now my wife can stream all the DramaFever she wants! Oh and I am using these guys just because they are cheap and accept Bitcoin too!

 

HideIPVPN.com

 

Get smart on SmartDNS!

Wiki SmartDNS

 

So there you have it, the keys to your streaming nirvana await you! lol Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

P.S. For those that care and are technically inclined, here is my setup currently with all these services.

 

1. VPN service: I use OpenVPN with this service and have it loaded on my iPhone/iPad. I used this VPN service at first to get around that damn pesky "censorship" of the country I was deployed too before. Worked like a charm! I also use the VPN when I am on open public wifi hotspots, better safe than sorry! Additionally, I have dd-wrt loaded on my home router and it can set up as OpenVPN client as well. Super cool and I have it set up to only route traffic through the VPN by a list of local IPs I have set; bonus points for that!

 

2.  SmartDNS service: I got this for my Samsung smart TV and it is set directly on the TV, no need to fuss with your router. It works great and all the TV apps think they are in the US! haha. I guess I could use it for other things, but that is all I need this service for.

Getting JCI done on Okinawa!

So….I guess I need to do the JCI on my Honda Fit now. I can’t believe it has been two years already, but yea, I guess I need to do the “dreaded” JCI haha.  Well let me tell you it is not actually hard to do, but it is going to cost you some coin to get it done, that is for sure.  I will lay out what I had to do and any pitfalls that can come up during this whole process. All this is current as of August 2015 and with a 500 series Y plate car.

Basically, you get this done at the JSVRO on Foster. It is right across the street from the Commissary on that base, so it is easy to find.  Basically, you go through the Foster gate right off the Hwy 58. See below on the hours and a map.



JSVRO Map - Foster

Here is also some info on what to expect and the process on getting JCI done Foster…



JSVRO - GOJ FEES

JSVRO - JCI Process - Foster

Additionally, you can find more official info here and some more unofficial info at Okinawa Hai (it is dated though, but still correct)…

http://www.mcbbutler.marines.mil/BaseInformation/VehicleRegistration.aspx

http://okinawahai.com/you-dreaded-jci/

Ok, here is what I did...

 1.   I started on a Tuesday morning and basically followed the handout procedure up above. I started early in the morning and I am glad I did, as you will read why later on.

2. Ok, my first stop was at my insurance office in the Kadena USO building by gate 2.  I renewed my insurance early since I was doing this and you can buy the JCI policy there as well.  It sucks that we, SOFA members, has to have both insurance types, but it is what is out here.  I will itemize my costs at the end of this write-up.  Oh, you have to pay YEN cash for the JCI policy, however I can pay dollar/yen/CC for the insurance policy.

3.  My next stop was the JSVRO on Foster and there was no lines/waiting at the time I went in the morning, which is great, since I hate waiting! Inside you will have to pay weight tax in YEN only and make sure you bring all your car paperwork in there with you. They will be stamping papers, paper clipping, and stapling a bunch of stuff together too, so you end up with a packet of paperwork. Once you take care of all that, you will have to go to the Inspection office on the back side of the JSVRO building to pay the inspection fee. I paid in cash, but they may or may not take credit card/YEN. See image below on where it is…

  

JSVRO - Office #6

 4.  Now once you have that take care of, it is time to get your car inspected. You pull into this lane…



JSVRO Lane #5

HOWEVER, this is where things can go awry.  As in, this is the part that can get expensive! Let me break it down for you…I have a “newer” Honda Fit, low miles, great condition, well maintained.  It is not a beater basically or a lemon lot special. So I figured I will throw the dice and just get it JCI’d, well guess what, it didn’t work out for me! Arrghhh!!! Actually, I need to back up a little bit. Remember that weight tax and what not you just paid? Take a look at the little note they attach to the receipt…

 

GOJ Weight Tax - 2015

So what that means is, if you fail your inspection and cannot get whatever fixed by the time they close that day, you are out that money. Yup, you will have to pay that tax AGAIN to JCI your car if you can’t get it to pass that DAY! A little crazy if you ask me, since it isn’t chump change, but now you should start seeing where things can get expensive if you try to wing it, like I did. So back to my story…So yea, I winged it and they failed me on two items! Sorry for being all dramatic about it, but they were really small things, but I was annoyed never the less. I guess if you fail, they will ask you to pull up in lane 3, the lane of shame, and that is where they will break down what failed. I will detail that stuff in a minute, but here is some pictures of the process of them inspecting your car and I will go over what they check…

JSVRO Inspection Bay Signs

JSVRO Inspection Bay - Brake Test

JSVRO Inspection - Headlight Test

JSVRO Inspection Bay - Lift

So what did they ding me on? See below…



JCI Inspection Form

It was basically a cracked rubber boot and a headlight adjustment.  However, use this form as a guide to make sure you car is good to go, before you get there. A lot of stuff on there is simple and easy to fix on your own.  I would be pretty pissed at myself if I failed because of a burned out bulb or something.

Well luckily, or more like “conveniently”, there is a AAFES service station just behind the inspection area, and they do first come, first served service. I am sure that is out of necessity of being so close to the JSVRO and then having frantic soccer moms freaking out that they failed their inspection, and they will be damned if they can’t get their mini-van JCI’d…TODAY! How are they going to get their 7 kids to plays/practice/ the BX?!?! Haha Anyways, I was lucky it was simple stuff and cheap to fix, and they even got it done within an hour actually. But here are my thoughts on this part so far…

I know there are plenty of local car shops that offer JCI pre-inspections and what not.  I think those services prey on people’s fear of the JCI, but that is just me. So do you need to use those services? If you have a beater, you might want too. Shop around of course, but if you have decent ride and well maintained, I imagine you will be alright; basically don’t waste your money. Put it this way, if you wing your JCI inspection and they find stuff, well just fix that stuff, and you should be good. You will be out that same money (or more) doing a pre-inspection as well, since they “should” identify that same stuff, and of course they will offer to fix it; How convenient…But you open yourself to being sold stuff you don’t need, just to be “sure” you will pass the JCI. It think that is a racket, but that is just me again. So all this being said, I believe this part is what puts the “DREAD” in the dreaded JCI. We all heard the stories, “It cost me $1000+ just to JCI my car, what a nightmare!” I put money on that they did the JCI pre-inspection somewhere, and got oversold on service/parts. Yea they passed their JCI, but did it need to cost them $1000+ when it was all said and done!? Nope if you ask me! I can only hope they didn’t waste that money on a shitty car to boot, because if it was going to cost me that much to JCI any car I had, I will be looking for a different car and junk the old one.  Ok rant done, moving on…

5. OK round two…I went back to the inspection lane after they fixed my car at the AAFES service station, however it was their lunch time! Yes, they have lunch time, see the handout up above for the hours. Well, I just waited in the lane by the inspection bay, so I would be first in line when they got back.  When they did get back, they basically just checked what was failed from before and moved me through. After the inspection, I was told to pull into the lane of glory, actually lane 4, and they give you your JCI sticker then. You are not done though! Once you pass you have to go back in the JSVRO to update your paperwork/records. Bring everything in there and you drivers license and IDs. I mean they check everything, so like if you have an expired license, they will get you there. Just saying…my wife’s license expired the very week I did this, and they were giving me crap about it. But that is another write up for next time….

6. In summary, I winged it, and made it through relatively painlessly. The key to all this is good planning and giving yourself time to get this done. Fix the stuff you can first on your car before going of course, but be prepared to fork out cash if you car is “suspect”. Oh, don’t do this last minute! I am sure you can see why now…Well here is my detail cost for all this, however you mileage may vary…

a.  Insurance Renewal = ¥23,730 or about $192

b. JCI Policy = ¥13,230 or about $107

c. Weight Tax, etc. = ¥11,600 or about $94

d. Inspection Fee = $20

e. AAFES Service Station Cost (not everyone of course) = $51

GRAND TOTAL = $464 for a 500 series Y plate / Honda Fit

Not cheap in my opinion just to “drive” this car on the island, but it is Japan, it is what it is. Hopefully you enjoyed this write-up and good luck on your JCI adventures!

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Everything you wanted to know about driving/owning a car here in Okinawa...

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief

Joint Service Vehicle Registration Office Orientation Brief